Mell’s speech is, of course, from Patton. Much of Mell’s dialogue in this sequence is based on either movie Patton or actual Patton. And it takes up ALL THE DAMN PANEL SPACE. I’m sorry.

Never pass up an opportunity to draw characters in amusing hats.

Yeah, more of the big speech from Patton. And more dialogue that completely crowds out the art. That said, I do like the way Mell came out in these strips. The sunglasses and the cigar really add something. No, I don’t know where the generalissimo outfit came from or what it signifies. It just seemed like the thing to draw at the time.

I can’t believe I spent three days on this speech, but it was all worth it for “I was an ATM in Louisiana.”

I think this is the first Narbonic strip that mentions Mell’s middle initial. As faithful readers of Li’l Mell know, her full name is Melody Wildflower Kelly. I didn’t realize I’d done this until TV Tropes pointed it out, but Helen, Dave, and Mell all have embarrassing middle names. I guess it’s a trope I’m drawn to as someone with a ridiculous, hard-to-spell name. (I generally like my name, though. I didn’t have to deal with any competition at all for the URL www.shaenon.com.)

Throughout this storyline, people kept asking why Madblood would build a robot army based on himself. It’s because Madblood, unlike Dave, has a healthy sense of self-esteem. This is why self-esteem is bad for you, people.

Madblood pulls the trick of making areas invisible to his own AIs again, much later, in “Professor Madblood and the Everlasting Ices of the North.”

This is another strip that gets echoed much later in “Everlasting Ices of the North.” Of course, in most storylines, the other characters have just cause to complain to Helen. The part of this strip that still makes me smile is Artie apologizing, but only for part where they let Mell come along.

Narbonic was pretty easy to draw when it was just a bunch of Daves walking around.

It took two weeks of the three Daves running around together before I was able to find time for Dave to process the bizarre situation Artie is in. There’s limited room for plot and character advancement in a four-panel strip, even a really wordy one. Still, I knew I had to pause for this discussion. There’s no point to doing wacky stuff like this if you don’t get to stop and address how it affects the characters.

If Dave had ever asked Artie what it was like being a gerbil, he probably would’ve just gotten an eyeroll. A tiny, tiny eyeroll.

Androids! Madblood’s androids. What kind of ‘droids love girl maniacs? Bearded ones, ones with ties and labcoats, even ones with pockets full of notes — love maniacs, girl maniac — one’s with wild hair and checkered skirts, ones that know where they left their ax, and how to use it to cause hurts. Androids, Madblood’s androids, the droids a girl maniac loves to love back!

garran: They’re probably Madblood’s, as it’d be kind of difficult to carry that heavy-looking clothing everywhere. Plus, she’d have been wearing that hat at every conceivable opportunity. Either way, I’m quite sure she’s Patton herself on the back.

I really had trouble placing the source of this speech – at the time attributing it to either Apocalypse Now or Full Metal Jacket. I then watched both films in that order, and came out not only with a diminished respect for the nature and spirit of the human creature, but also wondering what the heck is up with that “Surfin’ Bird” song.

Q: Does a ‘full Earth’ trigger lycanthropy in the way that a full moon does?

Leon: There was a series of light fiction called “Bureau 13” — in the volume Full Moonster, the disaster du jour turns out to have been triggered when an unwitting werewolf managed to sneak past some museum guards and actually touch a moon rock. BOOM was only the beginning….

If you’ve got a robot army, you could just send it out to conquer the world, but how much better to revel in the fact that you have a robot army ready to do your bidding and celebrate by exhorting them. 10155 is halfway to the correct conclusion: the speech is nothing more than Mel’s self-gratifying fantasy realization.

Do you love the Gen’-ral-is-si-mo Kelly?(Mell Kelly’s swell!)Sparkle in her eye and fire in her belly!(Mell Kelly’s swell!)She won’t sit around just watching the telly!(Mell Kelly’s swell!)Gonna rule the world from Nome to New Delhi!(Mell Kelly’s swell!)Don’t want Madblood, he’s too smelly!At her command, we’ll unleash Hell!

I know many ATMs in Louisiana. They tend to be good folks. Although, there is one in my university’s student union that’s an evangelical. As it processes it says “This wait is short. Eternity is longer. Where will you be spending it?” It’s a bit annoying when you just want to get your forty bucks and be done with it.

Dave has the compulsion to call Madblood “Professor” instead of something more appropriate, such as “hated enemy” or “Mister Loopy”. Heck, Lupin could just put him on the payroll right this second and they’d both just fall right into the master-fool relationship.

Yeah, “Complain to Helen” doesn’t really work for Madblood. You can kinda make it work, though; it depends on whether “Curse you, Narbon! Once again, your perfidious intern has foiled my schemes!” counts as ‘complaining’ or not.

I love the Daves! Dave of course is my favorite Dave, but the other ones are cute too, although Artie should wear glasses. And For the Record the “Complain to Helen” part of the story is one of the best (that and Dave winning Lovelace)

BTW I haven’t mentioned it, but I love the Speech! Now I definitively have to watch Patton

Breaking character for a sec: while reading the mailing list archives I happened upon a link to a 2003 interview. Highlights: this story arc boasts “all the tender human drama of a 1980s body-swap movie“.And also: “I have no formal art training“? That’s… a little bit surprising.

Now the situation’s grave!We see Dave and Dave and DaveAs they run from all the chaos Mell has made!And we watch as each one crawlsThru the shafts inside the wallsAs they’re hiding from the battle ‘bot brigade!Now Dave’s telling Artie he smells like alfalfa,Artie tells Dave, “Now that’s really uncalled for!”Madblood’s annoyed that his scheme is destroyed!All his plans fell through!‘Bots said, “Who are you?”Now it’s Mell who tells them what to do …He’s overruled again!